The author argues that an important task of career-long teacher education is the encouragement of imagination and creativity in experienced teachers. The task implies a reversal of the managerialism that currently afflicts so many European education systems. The article begins by giving an analysis
of pedagogical relationships to expose some of the reasons that teaching is an extraordinarily complex activity. Indeed it is so complex that it is not something that can be learnt in advance of experience. However, the author claims that experience is not enough on its own. To become excellent requires a career-long commitment to self-cultivation as teachers. More